It Was That Simple
by DorothyMichaels
Summary: Maddie discovered Danny's secret, but has no idea how to tell him that she knows. I do not own Danny Phantom
1. Night

She couldn't be away from her son for too long. If she did, her mind would slowly start to lose its grip on reality. Who is her son? When she would look at him, she knew. She knew he was her Danny, the same sweet boy he always had been. When she was lying on her bed, with nothing but her thoughts and Jack's snoring to keep her company, she was not so sure anymore. Who is Danny? He's a ghost. Well, part ghost. He's that ghost boy she and Jack had been trying to capture for so long, Danny Phantom. She discovered the truth a week ago, and could barely sleep since.

She hadn't told Danny about what she discovered, she didn't know how to approach the subject. She knew that once she came clean, things will never be the same between them, not ever. But isn't this just part of life? People change, relationships change, even those between a parent and their children. _Especially_ those between parents and their children. _"Even normal children",_ she couldn't help but think to herself.

No, she just can't take it. She got out of bed and sneaked into her son's bedroom. She had been doing it quit frequently since she discovered his secret. There he is, there's her Danny. Just sleeping peacefully, breathing in and out. All curled up inside his blanket, hugging a pillow.

It wasn't that hard to figure it out, she felt so stupid that it took her this long. One day, she decided to stop ignoring the fact that some of the Fenton Gadgets always lock onto Danny. She scanned him with an ecto-scanner while he was sleeping. Sure enough, he had his own ecto-signature. She inserted his ecto-signature into their database, where it was revealed his signature matched the one of Danny Phantom. It was that simple, and from then on every little fact just popped into place. She hadn't told Jack yet, of course. She couldn't even tell Danny.

Said boy looked so small and innocent, it was hard to believe he had so much power. Maddie sat down beside him. She knew she shouldn't wake him up, but she just had to talk to him. Her hand stroked his black hair, making the boy shift a bit. He then slowly opened his eyes and looked at his mother. He was too sleepy to make any sense of the situation, his eyes didn't show confusion or annoyance, just sleepiness.

"Mom…?" Danny asked quietly. He then closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

"Danny? Danny?" Maddie shook his shoulder gently.

"Whaaaat?" her son whined, not opening his eyes this time.

"I need to ask you something."

"What?" he murmured.

Maddie paused. What did she want to ask him? She realized she hadn't thought it through. She kept silent for a minute. Danny fell asleep for the second time since she first sat on his bed.

Maddie then got up from her son's bed and went back to her own. She will talk to him another time, when she actually knew what she was going to say.


	2. Morning

**Thank you so much for your reviews! I actually have most of the story already written, so here is the second chapter. There will be more!**

Morning came. Maddie still didn't know what she wanted to say to Danny. She was sitting next to the kitchen table, eating breakfast with Jazz. The boy then came running down the stairs, sitting in his own chair and pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

He was chowing for a minute, then looked up at his mother. Maddie realized she had been staring at him, her own breakfast forgotten.

"What?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Nothing." She answered, continuing her meal.

Danny kept staring at her. "Say, Mom… Were you in my room last night?"

"Yes, don't you remember?" she asked him, surprised.

"I do… I just wasn't sure if it was a dream or something…" he answered thoughtfully.

"You were pretty out of it." Maddie chuckled.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why were you in my room?" Danny asked with his mouth full of cereal.

"I wanted to ask you something." His mother answered slowly.

Danny swallowed his mouthful. "Well?"

Jazz was now looking at her as well. Both her children were waiting for an answer, like they already knew what she wanted to ask, but refused to be the first to say it.

"It's not important…" Maddie quietly said.

Danny shrugged, putting another spoonful in his mouth. "Alright…" he murmured.

"Well, I'm leaving!" Jazz announced, standing up from her chair. "Bye Mom!"

"Have a nice day, sweetheart." Her mother called after her daughter as she was leaving the kitchen. Maddie and Danny were left alone by the table, eating quietly.

Danny, finishing his own breakfast, stood up and announced his leaving. He started to walk out of the kitchen, but Maddie got up quickly before he completely left the house.

"Danny. Hold on!" She called to him. He stopped. Turned around to face her, and waited.

Maddie opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Her son looked up at her, his expression started to look annoyed.

"Please tell me." She finally choked out.

Danny furrowed his eyebrows. "Tell you what?" he asked.

Maddie thought for a minute about her answer. "If anything's wrong…" she started. "If you're going through a hard time. If you just want to share something with me. Please tell me." Maddie smiled lightly. Danny only looked confused.

"Alright…" he muttered, "well, bye Mom!" he turned around and left the house.

"Have fun at school, sweetie." Maddie called after him.


	3. Afternoon

Maddie headed down to the lab. She walked a few steps and then she saw him, the ghost boy, Danny Phantom. He was doing something with the controls of the portal. He was holding a Fenton Thermos in his hands. When he finished whatever the hell he was doing, he floated up, giving the portal one last look before-

"Ghost boy." Maddie said quietly. She just stood there, at the base of the stairs. She didn't know what else to do. Should she take out a weapon and threaten him? She couldn't, he was Danny.

The ghost who was Danny looked over to her. His eyes widened, he seemed frightened. He quickly tried to hide the thermos behind his back, but they both knew it was a useless action.

"What are you doing?" Maddie asked.

Danny landed on the ground again, holding the thermos now with both hands behind his back.

"I was putting this ghost back in the ghost zone and…" he stuttered, "s… sorry. I'll go now…" he lifted himself to the air again, aiming towards the ceiling.

"Hold on." Maddie called after him. The ghost remained floating in place, his ghostly tail swinging from side to side. The ghost huntress eyed the tail, feeling her stomach flip as she did so. She then lifted her eyes to his face, looking right into his own pair.

"Please tell me," She whispered.

His glowing green eyes widened. He then vanished from sight.


	4. Evening

Maddie knocked on the door to her son's bedroom. A faint "come in" could be heard. Maddie inhaled a slow breath and opened the door. Danny was sitting by his desk in front of his computer, playing Doom with Tucker. He looked so focused on the game, every time and again saying something to Tucker through his headphones. He acted like everything was normal. ' _Well, for him everything_ is _normal_ ,' Maddie thought to herself. He had had these ghost powers for so long now, the only change is that now his mother knew.

"Hold on, Tuck. I have to go…" Danny smiled over to his mother while addressing his friend through the headphones.

"I… I can come back later if you're busy." Maddie spluttered before she could stop herself.

"No, no! It's fine…" Danny told her. "Bye, Tuck…" he addressed his friend again before logging off. Taking off his headphones, he rolled away from his desk a bit to face his mother fully.

"Do you have anything to say to me now?" he asked. The easy going attitude he just had with Tucker was gone. He was completely serious now, and maybe a bit irritated.

Maddie sat down on Danny's bed, said boy rolling again in her direction. They sat like that, facing each other. Danny didn't say anything, to hell with it. If his mother wanted to talk, she should just talk.

"Please tell me." Maddie said.

Danny raised his eyebrows. What was she playing at?

"You already know…" he muttered.

"Yes." She said, pausing before adding. "But I want you to tell me…"

Danny sighed deeply. "Alright…"

Seemingly picking up a cynical attitude, he looked straight into his mother's eyes. A hint of a smirk visible on his lips, like it was all some sort of game. "Mom, I'm part ghost."

Maddie just continued looking at him. "And what ghost are you?"

"I'm Danny Phantom," her son added. He was smiling, he couldn't help himself. This was getting ridiculously awkward.

"Thanks for telling me."

He outright laughed. He just couldn't take it. Maddie looked a bit startled, which only made him laugh harder. Couldn't she see how ridiculous this it?

"Danny! Stop laughing!" his mother reprimanded. "This is serious!"

"I know…" Danny calmed down a bit. "Do you have anything to say to me, now?" he looked at her worriedly. She hadn't said anything on the subject. She was so silent. Danny wished she would say _something._ _Anything_. He held his breath, waiting.

"I…" Maddie started, only then realizing she didn't have anything to say. She was at a loss for words, she was just sitting there, staring at him, with her mouth open.

Danny sighed, reaching over to his headphones. "Well…" he muttered, "when you know what you want to say, come back and say it. For now, I did my part. I'm going back to my game, if you don't mind?" he was angry now, Maddie could tell, which only made her lack of words more apparent to her.

He looked at her for a few seconds longer, she was still silent. Danny then rolled back over to his computer, placing the headphones back on his head and logging on to his game.

Maddie just sat there for another minute. Her son was playing again, completely ignoring her. She really couldn't blame him, she handled this situation very poorly. She slowly got up from his bed, leaving his room.


	5. Lunch

**Sorry for the late update. Thank you so much for all your reviews. Hope you enjoy!**

"I don't know, guys… It's been real awkward at home lately."

Dany was sitting across from his friends, Sam and Tucker, at the lunch table. He's been moving his potatoes on his plate from side to side, only occasionally taking a bite.

A few days have passed since Danny told his mom he is Danny Phantom. They haven't spoken about the subject since, though he knew that Maddie already told Jack about it.

"Here dude, take my chocolate milk." Tucker offered.

"Thanks, Tuck…" Danny took the little carton and punched a hole with the yellow straw. "They are trying to act as if everything is the same, and I'm all for that, really… but it's just so _awkward_."

"I'm sure they'll come around, soon." Sam offered weakly.

"Yeah, I know, Sam… You said that two days ago but it just gets worse every day." Danny huffed sadly.

Danny's conversations with his parent have been almost non-existent for the past week. They all sensed the ghost in the room, but no one offered to take the initiative and point it out. Maddie and Jack treated Danny like always, but they were tenser around him, their smiles forced. They talked less about ghosts, and stopped working on inventions on the kitchen table. All their work has been moved to the lab, when before Jack liked to fumble with his devices in every place in the house which contained a chair.

Sam suddenly snapped her fingers. "I know what you should do, Danny." She smiled at him. Danny in return put Tucker's chocolate milk on the table and looked at her.

"They seem to have a hard time grasping the fact that you're a ghost, right?"

Danny nodded.

"Well…" Sam continued. "You gotta normalize it, you know? Just do the normal stuff you normally do at home, but in ghost form. Act all ghostly around them, give them no choice but to face the facts."

Danny let out a sigh. "I don't know, Sam. Wouldn't it just make things even more awkward?"

"I think Sam's got a point, Danny." Tucker added. "You all kinda tried acting like everything is the same, but it is obviously isn't working, and just keeps getting worse. Try it, what have you got to lose?"

"I'll think about it." Danny gave a weak smile to his friends.

 **I know his parents' reactions seem strange. I am taking examples from my own relationship with my parents. Sometimes parents need some time to accept things.**


	6. Surprise!

Danny phased through the front door like a bullet, startling his mother who was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and watching the news.

"Hi Mom!" he called to her as he started rummaging through the refrigerator. He was floating with his stomach facing the ground, his ghostly tail flicking behind him. As he was looking through the freezer for something to eat, Jack came up from the lab. It took him a few seconds to get over the shock of seeing a ghost in his fridge before remembering it was his own son.

"Score!" Danny called, pulling out a pint of ice-cream. Slamming the freezer door closed with his waist, the ghost boy floated out of the kitchen and into the living room.

As Maddie and Jack shared a look, their son was suddenly back in the kitchen. "Oops! Forgot the spoon! Silly me…" he said, phasing his hand through a drawer and pulling back a spoon. It all happened very fast and the parents were once again alone in the kitchen, too stunned to say a word.


	7. Breakfast

**The next chapter will be the last. So prepare for that!**

Maddie and Jack have rarely got to see Danny in his human form for the following 48 hours. He made a point of letting his parents see him only as a ghost. Every morning, upon waking up, Danny would change to his ghost form, only changing back to human before leaving to school.

He knew his parents weren't pleased, but they didn't say anything. It was obvious they weren't comfortable with having a ghost flying around the house. Danny rarely touched the ground around them, floating and phasing through walls as much as possible.

Danny was floating over his chair at breakfast, eating his cereal. Maddie came into the kitchen. Seeing Danny floating, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Danny, sit down."

Danny glanced up at her, slowly descending onto his chair. "Fine, but it's really not comfortable eating like that." He huffed out.

Taking out two eggs from the fridge for her own breakfast, Maddie turned around to face her son. "How long will you be keeping this up?" She asked gently, putting the eggs on the counter and bending down to get a frying pan from the cupboard.

"Keep what up?" Danny asked innocently, raising his eyebrows.

Maddie glanced at him for a second before going back to making her eggs. "Never mind…" she muttered, mostly to herself.

Finishing his breakfast, Danny floated over to the sink, rinsing out his bowl. He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and hovered over to the front door. Upon landing on the ground, Danny changed back to human, waving his mother goodbye and going out the door.

Maddie hurried out after him. "Have a good day, sweetie!" She called out to him, watching her human son walking down the street.


	8. Dinner

**Sorry for the delay! I have written this chapter a while ago but I had to take some time to get comfortable with posting it. It's super cheesy. But... I love cheese! Hope you do, too.**

Evening came, and so did the family dinner. Danny, again, was floating over his chair in his ghost form.

Jazz looked over at him warily. She understood what her younger brother was doing, but she, too, missed seeing his human form during dinner.

Danny put a spoonful of tomato soup in his mouth, smiling at his family. Jack had been awfully quiet for the past week, having his favorite topic of discussion, ghosts, being off limits all of a sudden.

Maddie looked at Danny, and started to chuckle. Both her son and her daughter looked at her curiously. Standing up from her chair, she walked over to where Danny was floating. She hugged him tightly, kissed his cheek and stroked his white hair.

A bit startled at the sudden affection at first, Danny quickly got over the shock and returned his mother's hug.

"Thank you, Danny." Maddie whispered in his ear. "I love you, son."

Breaking the hug and cupping his face with both her hands, Maddie looked straight into her son's green eyes. "My little ghost boy" She smiled at him. "Thank you for being so patient with us."

Danny smiled back. A white halo came to being around his waist, changing him back to his human form. "I love you, too." He said lightly, looking at his mom.

Maddie went back to her seat, picking up her spoon and continuing her dinner. She glanced up to meet Danny's gaze again. A smile formed again on their lips as mutual understanding finally dawned between them. The whole family continued eating their dinner with a comfortable silence, excited for their future.

Their family dynamic has changed. It was up to them now to embrace it and make sure it will be changed for the better.

The End!

 **Thank you for all your wonderful comments. I am glad I got to finish this fanfiction. Keep on Goin' Ghost.**


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